


Faraway Moonlight Becomes Our Light

by semimotivatednerds, spectreofstardust



Series: Building #17 [2]
Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Gen, Humor, Jeonghan's birthday, artist!seokmin, chef!jun, college student!lee chan, photographer!minghao, restaurant owner!joshua
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-10
Updated: 2018-10-10
Packaged: 2019-07-28 22:07:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16250750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/semimotivatednerds/pseuds/semimotivatednerds, https://archiveofourown.org/users/spectreofstardust/pseuds/spectreofstardust
Summary: How does one go about making sure the day of a surprise birthday party runs smoothly?  Not this way.  That’s for damn sure.





	Faraway Moonlight Becomes Our Light

**Author's Note:**

  * For [spectreofstardust](https://archiveofourown.org/users/spectreofstardust/gifts).



> Title from Seventeen's "Highlight"

_ T Minus 14 Hours aka 0600 aaka 6 am aaaka Too Early _

    Joshua fumbled for his alarm trying to turn it off before it could wake up anyone else in the apartment.  Sure, Jeonghan could sleep like the dead, but he didn’t want to actually test the theory today - Murphy’s Law and all that.

    He groaned pushing himself up so that he could sit on the side of the bed for approximately two minutes and complain in his head about having to get up early.  It might be worth it in the end - he and the other building residents had been planning the surprise dinner for awhile. But as part of making sure Jeonghan wouldn’t get suspicious, Joshua had been going in to the restaurant early every day for the past two weeks.  Early meaning 7 am. Early meaning significantly before his usual 2 pm. 

    And while he might have expected himself to have gotten used to the 6 am alarm at any point over the past two weeks, the reality was he hadn’t.  He could already feel the peace he’d get tomorrow when he  _ didn’t _ have to get up before sunrise.  

    Thirty minutes later, he was finally out the door.

    Forty minutes later he was  _ actually _ leaving, having had to make a quick detour back to his room to get the birthday card he had gotten earlier for Jeonghan - the one he managed to slip between the desk and the wall.  In a still half-asleep and stressed state, Joshua had a near breakdown. Though Joshua hoped this would be the only excitement he had to face for the rest of the day, he knew it wouldn’t be.  He just wasn’t that lucky. 

    At least, he didn’t have to hide the whole dinner from Jeonghan.  Taking him out for a birthday dinner had been a tradition since before college - it was just the twelve other building residents that would be a surprise.  Unfortunately, any of the other twelve buildings was a recipe for ...excitement...all on their own; now all twelve of them were contributing. 

    Joshua made a mental note to put aside time to check the surrounding areas for buildings he could rebuild his restaurant. He just might need to by the end of the night.  

_ T Minus 12 Hours aka 0800 aaka 8 am aaaka Talk First and Talk Loudest...so to speak _

    Seokmin knew that so long as you could get the ball rolling, it tended to keep moving in the direction you wanted it.  At least, that’s the way Seokmin was looking at it. He really did get the first say in everything for the decorations.  As he had heard somewhere, people follow those who talk first and talk loudest. Sure, that might sound somewhat sad when you take actual politics into account, but when it came to this....well, Seokmin had no problem bending ethical rules a little.  His vision would be the one that would take over Joshua’s restaurant later that night.

    He was always a little wary sharing his opinions and thoughts when part of an actual group.  However, when it was all up to him and he had the time to adequately prepare, Seokmin could put together a good looking event.  

    All he had to do was figure out what his vision was and how he wanted the event to look.  

    He and Minghao had definitely shared ideas and had already bought most of the supplies, but Seokmin was picking up the final pieces now.  As an artist, he knew firsthand how the smallest of details could affect the big picture. While he did have ways that he wanted to subtly influence the bigger picture he and Minghao had discussed, he wasn’t completely sure how much he wanted to influence it. 

    Ah well, this is why he set aside this large amount of time.  He had an hour to spend in the mall - he was sure to get the final burst of inspiration there.

    Nothing like the sheer panic of an impending deadline set in stone to get the creative juices flowing.

_ T Minus 10 Hours aka 1000 aaka 10 am aaaka One Too Long Shopping Trip Later _

__ Seokmin was definitely rushing now.  His hour long trip to pick up the few last items had turned into a two hour extravaganza that included (among other things)

  * a heated discussion of color schemes with a friendly but aggressive cashier
  * a glaring match with the woman who had _not_ seen the pretty lilac streamers first (normally Seokmin would have had no problem letting her have them, but these streamers were absolutely necessary for Jeonghan’s party and it wouldn’t be fair to Jeonghan to just give in)
  * a twenty minute wait in line at a store that didn’t look to be _that_ busy at first glance
  * and a quick stop for a cupcake - it wasn’t for the party.  Mingyu, Jun and Joshua, who had been delegated the task of food preparation for the party, were definitely pulling out all the stops for the desert.  The cupcake was just for Seokmin and had looked (and tasted) very delicious. It was a smart stop to have made.



    He pushed the final things into the backseat of his car, since the trunk already filled to the brim, and started the drive to Joshua’s.  The final mall trip - while far longer than he had originally planned - had been what he needed. He now knew exactly how he was going to decorate the event room on the upper floor of the restaurant.  

_ T Minus 9 Hours aka 1100 aaka 11 am aaaka All’s Fair in (Love and) War _

    Jun didn’t mind getting up all that early.  Stil, he appreciated that it was Joshua who had to be in first.  Jun definitely didn’t mind coming in four hours after Joshua, who left as soon as Jun got there.  Joshua’s official excuse for going to his office was to work on “important business.” Jun was pretty sure that Joshua was actually passed out on the couch to get some extra sleep before he was needed in the kitchen again.  

    Since Jun was getting to use the smaller kitchen in the restaurant that was used only for special events, he had the space to himself and was able to put on his music.  It was in this type of situation that he felt truly at his best. He didn’t mind working in a restaurant with other chefs and servers underneath him, but knowing that he was the only one he had to rely on - it was relaxing. 

    Exactly what he said went when he was the only one.  He knew everything would be executed exactly how he wanted it.  He didn’t have to worry about someone else messing up.

    Now, all he had to do was make sure that those small menu disagreements that he and Mingyu had been having were taken care of long before Mingyu got to the restaurant.  It wasn’t like Mingyu would be able to complain that much - or, more importantly, change everything back to how he wanted it - if Jun did most of the prep for  _ his  _ menu idea.  

    It really wasn’t his fault that he wasn’t quite sure how to make the dishes that he and Mingyu had disagreed on, or even know how to prepare them. 

    If Mingyu had been that die hard on the dishes, he really should have been the one to get there earlier in the day.

    Jun turned his music up a little louder before tying his apron on.  There was a lot to get done before Mingyu showed up. 

_ T Minus 8 Hours aka 1200 aaka 12 pm aaaka Loose Lips Sink Ships _

    “Okay, so that was a close call,” Soonyoung reassured.  “But that’s all it was. Jeonghan still doesn’t suspect anything and that’s okay.”  He pushed the now turned off cellphone a little farther away from him and Vernon. 

    “No thanks to you,” Vernon complained, taking another deep breath.  “We were on the phone for like five minutes. How’d you manage to get so close to blowing it?”

    “I panicked, okay?”  Soonyoung glared at the phone.  “I forgot that he didn’t know.”

    “We’ve been planning the  _ surprise _ party for over two weeks now.  How did you forget that the guy who was supposed to be surprised didn’t know about the party?”  Vernon was too confused to actually be upset. 

    They had called Jeonghan to wish him a birthday and to subtly double check what time he was planning on being home under the guise of wanting to drop of their gifts for him.  In reality, they were figuring out what time Seokmin and Minghao had to make the final trip between the apartment building and the restaurant with the last of the decorations.  It was supposed to be a safe call - the real worry would be Seungkwan taking the man out to lunch at 1. 

    The phone call was not supposed to clue Jeonghan in to the planned party in anyway.

    Soonyoung clearly didn’t get the memo and Vernon thought that he was going to have a heart attack when he saw the older man’s lips start to form the word  _ “party” _ in answer to Jeonghan’s inquiries to his evening plans.

    Vernon didn’t know that he had it in him, but somehow he had managed to smoothly insert himself into the conversation and answer the question with a word that definitely wasn’t  _ party _ .  In his panic, Vernon had no idea what answer he had supplied, but Soonyoung had looked impressed and Jeonghan didn’t question it so he figured they were safe.

     He sighed, pulling the phone back over to him.  He was definitely going to threaten Seungkwan again not to mess this up. Soonyoung’s slip was enough; Jeonghan was smart, too many mistakes and he was going to figure it out. 

_ T Minus 7 Hours aka 1300 aaka 1 pm aaaka (Speech is Silver) Silence is Golden _

    Seungkwan grinned at Jeonghan from across the lunch table.  For the past three years - from the first year Seungkwan had met Jeonghan, actually - it had been Seungkwan’s gift to the other.  Originally it had been because Seungkwan just didn’t know what else to get the man. After that it was to cement his place as Jeonghan’s favorite.  

    He wasn’t trying to beat Joshua, of course.  The two had been friends since early childhood.  Seungkwan knew what that type of friendship was, there was no way he was going to get between that.  And he wasn’t going to try to get between Chan and Jeonghan. They were brothers. Obviously he wouldn’t be getting between those two.  But everyone else in the building. Oh no, Seungkwan was not going to let anyone else get higher in Jeonghan’s affection than him, especially not Seokmin.  Seungkwan knew that Seokmin would do it if given the opportunity to as well.

    “What do you look so happy about?”  Jeonghan questioned as he twisted an impressive amount of fettucini on his fork.  

    “I’m just glad to be here with you,” Seungkwan said.  That didn’t seem like it would give anything away. Vernon would never let him live it down if he let anything slip about tonight, and even if Seungkwan was thinking about beating Seokmin in particular, he couldn’t be too careful.  

    He had already gotten a text from Vernon warning him to be careful. 

    Please, careful was his middle name.

    Thirty minutes later, he was still just as confident in his secret keeping abilities.  Mostly. Fairly.

    Okay, there had been some close calls and he was really thankful that lunch was coming to a close.  But, overall, he would give himself an A+. 

    He checked his phone right before they left the restaurant, making sure that he hadn’t missed any important party planning texts.  He had to stay in the loop after all. A scoff he couldn’t contain left his lips.

    “Is everything okay?”  Jeonghan asked.

    “It’s nothing.  Just some work stuff,” Seungkwan brushed his concerns off.  He knew Jeonghan didn’t completely believe him, but the other man didn’t press as Seungkwan scowled and typed out a response.

    Of course he didn’t spoil anything.  Why did nobody have any faith in him?  He was an MC for crying out loud. He was constantly keeping secrets.  Why right now, he could think of half a dozen easily. For example - oh, wait.  He wasn’t going to fall for that. He can keep secrets.

    So there.

_ T Minus 6 Hours aka 1400 aaka 2 pm aaaka Two Can Keep a Secret if One of Them is Dead _

    “And what’s your genius idea?”  Jihoon challenged, a tired scowl on his face.

    “It might not be genius, but it’s better than yours.”  Seungcheol knew better than to let Jihoon bait him, he really did.  But he was feeling the stress the same as the younger man - and well he had no one else to blame but himself for waiting so long to get a gift for Jeonghan, that knowledge didn’t exactly make him any more charitable toward his shorter companion. 

    “My idea is fine.  No one asked for your opinion.”  Jihoon shot back.

    “Pretty sure you just did,” Seungcheol mumbled.  Why he thought shopping for Jeonghan’s gift with Jihoon was a good idea he didn’t know.  

    He saw something that made him freeze.  Jihoon ran into his back but before he could start complaining he was cut off.

    “Seungcheol?  Jihoon? What are you doing here?”  Jeonghan looked so pleasantly surprised that Seungcheol knew it was a complete coincidence.  Seungkwan standing slightly behind Jeonghan was looking rather pissed off, his fingers flying across his phone’s keyboard.  Just as he slipped his phone into his pocket, Seungcheol felt his vibrate. He had no doubt as to who had just texted him.

    “Oh, us?  Nothing much,” Seungcheol had to stop himself from wincing at his tone.  This was Jeonghan. He would pick up on the slightest of suspicions. “We both needed some more equipment and figured we could just make the trip together.  Get some feedback.”

    “I didn’t need any feedback, you’re the one who wants to be chatty about it,” Jihoon glared at Seungcheol.  

    “I thought you would appreciate a second opinion.”  Maybe he should have let it go. He definitely should have let it go.  He didn’t though. Honestly, Seungcheol wasn’t even surprised with himself right now. 

    “Oh,” Jeonghan seemed a little surprised at their tones.  Seungcheol breathed through his nose.

    “It’s been a long afternoon.”

    “It’s two.”

    Seungcheol only nodded in response, trying to keep his focus on Jeonghan.  He kept catching glances of Seungkwan out of the corner of his eye. Seeing the normally brightly smiling MC glaring at him was rather disconcerting.  

    “Happy birthday, by the way.”  Seungcheol figured not acknowledging the day would only make Jeonghan more suspicious.  Jihoon joined in the conversation enough to second Seungcheol’s comment and give him another glare.  The multitasking abilities on that man, Seungcheol thought sarcastically.

    It really was going to be a long afternoon.  

_ T Minus 4 Hours aka 1600 aaka 4 pm aaaka Too Many Cooks Spoil the Broth _

    Mingyu glared at the food in front of him.  Most of it was done. All of it was prepped.  It was absolutely too late to make any changes to the menu.

    Absolutely.

    No chance.

    He had missed his chance.

    He should just move on.

    It was too late to do anything about it. 

    Jun had won.

    At least, that was what Jun would like him to think, wasn’t it? 

    But Mingyu had figured that this would happen.  He knew the reason Jun volunteered to take the cooking shift after Joshua’s was so the older man could get his menu made.  And because he knew that, he had planned accordingly.

    Since Jun was  _ nice _ enough to prep all the stuff that he wanted made, it left Mingyu plenty of time to prep the food that he had wanted to make.  He started pulling the ingredients out of the bags he had brought with him. 

    Let Jun think that he was going down without a fight again.  He had been planning this since the very first disagreement about the menu.  Jun might have thought he had won, but he had played right into Mingyu’s plan.

    His slightly maniacal laughter was cut short by inhaling too many of the red pepper flakes.  After a quick coughing break, Mingyu finally finished lining everything up on the counter. 

    It was time to get to work. 

_ T Minus 3 Hours aka 1700 aaka 5 pm aaaka The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men _

    Chan was screwed.  That was the only way to put it.  How was he screwed, one might ask?

   Well, it was a rather long story - but suffice to say, he was learning why it’s vitally important to stay active in planning out study group meeting times.  And not just respond “whenever’s good for everyone else ;)”. He was learning it was important to be an actual participant and not put all the responsibility on everyone else under the guise of being a nice groupmate.  Nobody appreciates it really.

    Also, it’s really easy to screw yourself over, when you let everyone else decided on the meeting time.  They just might pick the time that you’re supposed to be heading back to your apartment to distract your older brother from his surprise birthday party.  

    So now, Chan was trying to keep his thoughts on the paper he and his groupmates were supposed to be working on, instead of thinking about how Jeonghan was definitely going to be figuring out what was going on.  There was already Soonyoung’s slip up, add that to how he had run into Seungcheol and Jihoon. Jeonghan was going to figure something was up. 

    His older brother was smart.  Sometimes too smart for his own good, and most definitely too smart for Chan’s good. 

    He groaned.  Why couldn’t he have had a normal older brother?  One that didn’t like figuring people out just for the fun of it? 

_ T Minus 2 Hours aka 1800 aaka 6 pm aaaka Discretion is the Better Part of Valour _

    He was going to ruin this all.  Wonwoo just knew it. The party was in only an hour and a half.  Chan wasn’t going to be too much longer. All Wonwoo had to do was distract Jeonghan from trying to figure out where everyone else in the building had wandered off to.  In this moment, all Wonwoo wanted to do was to have chosen a different career path. Or at least, a more useful hobby for party planning.

    Jun and Mingyu got to cook for the party.  They didn’t have to deal with Jeonghan at all that day.  They had no worries of accidentally giving everything away because small talk wasn’t their forte.  Neither did Seokmin or Minghao who got to decorate because they were  _ artists. _

    Even Seungcheol and Jihoon got to go to the party early for sound system things.  It sounded like an excuse but Wonwoo didn’t know enough to actually dispute it. Also, he couldn’t necessarily count on them to come up with the distraction because they had actually ended up dealing with Jeonghan earlier in the day.

    That one was all on them though.   _ Everyone _ in the building had known where Seungkwan was taking Jeonghan for lunch.  Wonwoo wouldn’t have been surprised if everyone Seungkwan had interacted with the past week had known where he was taking Jeonghan for his birthday lunch.  They man had not stopped talking about his plans for the week. 

    But even Seungkwan had managed to keep the secret.  

    Okay, small talk.  He could do that. He went over to the triple bedroom apartment on the other side of the room.  Before he knocked, he pulled out his phone, getting Chan’s latest ETA. Thirty minutes. Okay, he could do this.  

    Maybe all he had to do was ask some questions.  Beyond that, maybe he wouldn’t even have to say anything.  

_ T Minus 1 Hour aka 1900 aaka 7 pm aaaka Many Hands Make Light Work - Unfortunately, There’s Just Two _

    Panic.

    Pure panic.  

    How on earth were they supposed to make the final adjustments in the last thirty minutes? 

    How on earth was he supposed to make the final adjustments in a room that was already crowded with nine other people? 

    It had seemed like a smart idea at the time.  Volunteering for the final things to do. Putting the finishing touches in the room that was supposed to be completely ready, but Jun and Mingyu were still arguing over a creme brûlée in the adjacent kitchen while Seungkwan and Hoshi were pulling out the little spinach puffs.  Why were those two in charge of the puffs? Minghao closed his eyes only to be met with a vision of the lovely pastel walls being covered in the creamy spinach inside of the puffs after one of the two tripped.

_ No, _ he took a deep breath through his nose.   _ Bad thoughts, Minghao, stop that _ .  He exhaled through his mouth.  

_ It’s okay, they’re not completely incompetent.  It will be fine, Minghao _ .  

     A frustrated shout from the kitchen.  None of the other five people in the room who weren’t doing anything - Minghao knew that Jihoon had the playlist put together two weeks ago when he was put in charge of it. He wasn’t falling for that - seemed inclined to get involved.  

    Dear God, this was all going to fall apart in the forty minutes it took Joshua to pick up Chan and Jeonghan from the apartment and it would be under his watch.  He was going to have to move back to China. Joshua might be one of the sweetest residents there was, but he had been working on this party for his best friend for around three weeks now.  Minghao would not be walking away alive if he let this fall to pieces now.

_ Alright, breathe, Minghao, you  can still save this.  _ He remembered hearing an old classmate of his was currently in Africa trying to get pictures of a lion’s pride in its natural habitat.  Minghaos’ other friends had talked about how crazy it was, how dangerous. Minghao wished he could trade places with him. 

_ 20:00 aka 8:00 pm aaka Showtime _

    “SURPRISE!!!!”  Joshua turned on the lights as he and Jeonghan stepped into the room, the sign to the others to jump out.

    Jeonghan actually stumbled a bit, his hands pressed to his chest to slow his racing heart.  A wide smile spread across his face, as his eyes took in everything before him. “Wow, guys.  Thank you so much.”

    “Happy birthday, Jeonghan!”  Seungkwan was the first one to dart forward, wishing Jeonghan a happy birthday for the second time that day and giving him yet another hug.  Jeonghan was more than happy to return it as he thanked Seungkwan for the effort in the party. 

    The rest of the greetings went in much the same way, Jihoon made his way to the side table after greeting the party’s guest of honor to turn on some music.  

    By the time they sat down to dinner, Jeonghan had greeted everyone in the room (some for the second time that day), and had definitely fake-cried over some of the members (Chan, in particular, multiple times really.  Chan let it pass because it was his brother’s birthday after all. But tomorrow it would all be over, and he would be enforcing personal space rules once again.)

    There was a bright smile on his face all through dinner and the official gift opening part of the evening.  Eventually the food was mostly eaten (mostly, was a stretch - there was a lot of food. More than enough for the thirteen males.  Jeonghan did have to get in break up an argument about the quantity between Jun and Mingyu; he had looked to Joshua, but Joshua told him in no uncertain terms that he had been dealing with the two “chefs” for the past two weeks and was done.  (The real problem was the model who considered himself a chef arguing with the actual chef.) Eventually the drinks were mostly gone - as proven by the sheer number of participants in Soonyoung’s dance off, there had been plenty of drinking done that evening.

    Taking the time now that most everyone was otherwise occupied, Joshua pulled Jeonghan off to the side.  “You knew.” It wasn’t a question.

     Jeonghan smile was not quite as wide as his earlier smiles had been.  It had a bit more of his usual mischievousness in it as well. “For a week and a half.”

     “Who gave it away?”  Joshua wasn’t disappointed in any of his fellow planners.  Jeonghan was definitely one of the more sly residents. To be honest, considering the party had been in the works for three weeks, Joshua counted the fact that they had kept it secret for a week a win.  

    “No one in particular.  Seungkwan and Soonyoung were a bit more smile-y than usual.  Chan was being significantly more patient, I figured it meant that he was thinking about my birthday coming up.”  Jeonghan grinned taking another sip of his wine. “I have to say though, this is one of the better surprise presents I’ve gotten.”  Joshua knew what Jeonghan wasn’t saying. This was one of the parties that he had enjoyed the most, because despite the large group, Jeonghan cared about each and every person here.  This wasn’t one of the parties thrown for him that was just for show. This was a party where Jeonghan got to be himself - even if that meant going a little crazy on the dance floor as he tired to out perform an actual choreographer.  

    Joshua grinned in response.  “I’m going to get one over on you one of these days. Just you wait.”

    “You’ve been trying since we were eight, Joshua.  I wouldn’t count on it.”

**Author's Note:**

> Author's Note 1: The extra a's in the "aka's" are an old habit my sister and I used to have, where we'd continuing adding "also's" to the "also known as" part of our statements. It was a competition to see how long we could keep it going. 
> 
> Note 2:   
> Hey, everyone!  
>  I hope everyone enjoyed the second installment of "Building #17"! I've got to thank Yang and Peacekeeper once more for letting me bounce ideas off of them, reminding me to actually write and editing it! Without them, this story definitely wouldn't be here.   
> \- Yin


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